Congressman Delahunt cries foul over Bush’s Iraq pact

Friday

Jan 25, 2008 at 12:01 AMJan 25, 2008 at 5:17 PM

U.S. Rep. William Delahunt is sounding the alarm about a new U.S.-Iraq security agreement that he says could bind this country to an unprecedented, possibly unconstitutional, commitment of American military force.

Lane Lambert

U.S. Rep. William Delahunt is sounding the alarm about a new U.S.-Iraq security agreement that he says could bind this country to an unprecedented, possibly unconstitutional, commitment of American military force.

The Quincy, Mass., Democrat says a vaguely worded ‘‘Declaration of Principles’’ issued by the two governments could keep as many as 100,000 American troops in Iraq for decades - a security pledge that he and other Democrats say should only be made by a treaty, with a two-thirds vote by the Senate, as required by the Constitution.

‘‘This is one of the most significant foreign policy decisions that will be made this year or next year,’’ Delahunt said Thursday, a day after he held a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing on the issue. ‘‘If this doesn’t rise to the level of a treaty, I don’t know what does.’’

He’s also concerned about language in the declaration that could commit the United States to defend the Iraqi government in a civil war or if it’s attacked by another nation.

Delahunt and other Democrats say the State Department is ignoring its own rules by not consulting Congress on the pending agreement.

President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued the declaration last November, during Maliki’s White House visit. The agreement is to be completed in July.

While Iraq’s foreign minister has publicly referred to the agreement as ‘‘a long-term treaty,’’ Bush and administration officials have spoken of an ‘‘enduring presence’’ in Iraq. They’ve compared the declaration to ‘‘status of forces’’ agreements the United States has with scores of other nations.

Delahunt said he held Wednesday’s hearing and an earlier one in December because the Bush administration has kept Congress in the dark from the day the ‘‘Declaration of Principles’’ was announced.

‘‘This could be on par with NATO and South Korea (treaties), and we’ve had no information,’’ he said. ‘‘Do we want to bind the next president and the American people to this agreement?’’